In all my decades of drinking I always saw it as a choice. The choice was really a no brainer tho, I could be sober, depressed and miserable or choose alcohol and drugs and instantly feel much better. I honestly couldn't understand why anyone would want to be sober all the time, that type of thinking was very hard to get past. You have to look way beyond the guestion of choice and figure out what's driving the bad decisions. Much easier said than done.